June 27th is Helen Keller’s birthday and we honour her outstanding legacy with a conversation with Bruce Maguire, who details her early years and her political activities and writings.

June 24th to the 30th is the international Deaf-Blind Awareness Week. We speak with Justin Elk from Able Australia’s Deafblind Services team about this often-misunderstood condition of dual sensory loss.

And Frances Keyland is on the program with a reader recommended on Helen Keller’s Memoir.

This week, we feature an extended conversation with Dr Kevin Murfitt who was recently included in the Queens birthday honours list for significant service to people who are blind or have low vision.

As a young man, Kevin envisioned his future in the restaurant and hospitality industry until a car accident and vision loss made him reassess his career options. He returned to university and studied psychology and journalism. He went on to complete his PHD in attitude change in employment with people with disability.

Since the 1990s Kevin has been involved in the leadership of major blindness organisations.

This week, a visitor from across the ditch. Blair Gilbert is the National Manager for Community and Life Enrichment at the Royal New Zealand Blind Foundation. The organisation has a strong history and is a well-known and prominent organisation within New Zealand. Its focus is to support people in living their life on their own terms.

Blair was part of a visiting team with an aim to discover what was taking place in Australia around blindness and low vision and to share information and knowledge with Australian sister organisations. He chats with us about what he has seen and the comparisons and similarities between New Zealand and Australia.

Also on the program:

Leona Holloway is a representative on the International council of English braille. Leona is on the program to talk about a survey in regard to possible changes to braille.

Scott Jacob from Vision Australia’s advocacy team discusses last month’s federal budget and what this means for people who are blind or have low vision.

We are delighted to present another podcast from the Stories of You series.

Emily Davison is a journalist and also a you tuber who goes under the name of Fashioneyesta – Emily aims to challenges people’s perceptions of sight loss through her love of fashion, beauty and style and to make fashion accessible for everyone.

Produced and presented by Glen Morrow, Stories of You is a conversational show with interviews and documentary style presentation. Guests share stories about their lives, experiences and personal journeys.

Also on the program, Julie Scott from the Vision Shop with a pen friend!

The Vision Australia Awards are given to individuals who have made a significant or exceptional contribution to the blind and low vision community.

We speak with a 2016 recipient Cliff Jackson. Cliff, aged 90 is an active volunteer with 20 years of service. Cliff first began volunteering in June 1996 with the Royal Blind Society Enfield, now Vision Australia. He has consistently volunteered since, devoting four days a week to Vision Australia clients and services. This is the second Vision Australia award Cliff has received. In 2006, he was awarded the Client Service Award for his service as a dedicated volunteer and a strong believer in peer support. Ten years on, Cliff’s Vision Impaired Persons Support Group has more than 22 groups and over 500 members. He also gives presentations on Vision Australia’s behalf to businesses and community groups and provides tours of our head office in Sydney.

Also on the program, Bruce Maguire who is the Lead Policy Advisor at Vision Australia chats to us about the challenges of using technology when you are blind. and the proliferation of the touch screen.